Disputes over noise levels and selection of musical acts outlined in a February lawsuit brought by the organizer of Prospect Sound Bites against the private ownership group of Bruns Family Park in southeast Longmont led to the cancellation of this year's weekly free summer concert series.

Merry Ann Webb, organizer of the Prospect Sound Bites events in the park for the last three years, filed her civil complaint Feb. 16 against the Downtown Prospect Association, which owns the park, in Boulder County Court.

As a result of the cancellation, acts including Richie Furay, of Buffalo Springfield, and Joan Osborne — both of whom Webb claims she had already contracted for shows before they were canceled by DPA — will no longer play in Longmont this summer.

With the suit, Webb is seeking $9,000 that she says she is owed by the DPA for her work to put on performances the last two summers, and a judgment against the group to allow her to continue coordinating the concert series without its influence.

The concert series ran Monday nights between Memorial Day and Labor Day for the last seven years, but for the last two years, it "became more of a raunchy beerfest," Kiki Wallace, president of the DPA, said in a Tuesday interview.

Refuting her claim that she is owed payment, Wallace said he has emails in which she acknowledged she has debts to the DPA.

Webb hired attorney David M. Haynes to represent her in the suit, which she brought in response to suggestions from Wallace and the DPA that she relinquish authority over hiring bands to play the weekly event.

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Wallace said the DPA is being represented by Stan Jezierski, of the firm Business Management Law Group, in the matter.

In her complaint, Webb claims the DPA neglected to pay her $300-per-show fee for the entire 2016 and 2017 Prospect Sound Bites series, totaling $4,500 for each year, and also said the association breached its contract with her by infringing on her duty to select musical acts, food and alcohol vendors and sponsors for each concert.

"They didn't pay me for two years, and I never really asked until all these disputes came up," Webb said. "Having to cancel Joan Osborne, I started crying."

Her suit also asks for damages she will be responsible for if bands that had agreed to play this summer try collecting cancellation fees, but she said Osborne's agent suggested the singer can likely find another venue to play in Colorado and will avoid charging Webb or Prospect Sound Bites, a nonprofit.

Wallace said the DPA's only option was to disallow the shows in its privately owned park after Webb refused to budge on giving more discretion to a second DPA-designated representative on concert lineups.

Multiple gripes over excessive noise caused by the music made by Prospect New Town residents and nearby business owners to the DPA prompted the group to approach Webb about mitigating loudness through a more stringent choice of bands.

"It came down to, she had a contract that basically said we gave her almost infinite latitude and she was unwilling to back down on anything. There was a following clause that said we couldn't fire her without (at least 20 days') notice, but we could end the series, hoping that would force some settlement in negotiation," Wallace said.

Longmont Public Safety Chief Mike Butler said the city received one to two noise complaints related to every Prospect Sound Bites show last year — chiefly from the same two people each week.

Code enforcement officers brought decibel meters to a show to measure the noise levels of the concert and found they were within the city's proper limits, Butler said, adding there was "nothing egregious" about the events.

All involved in the matter agree it is unfortunate the concert series was called off this year, but hope it can be revived under agreeable terms.

Local philanthropist Philip Ferranti, who funded numerous Prospect Sound Bites shows since their inception, estimated the event grew to attract between 2,000 and 3,000 people weekly last year.

"It was only once a week, it was only for a few hours and it was only in the summer. If you were someone who enjoyed getting together with your friends and enjoying a great concert, you couldn't beat that experience. The upside was way more than the downside," Ferranti said. "I hope it's not gone forever; I hope it's a temporary, this summer only (cancellation)."

Wallace said he expects the DPA will continue to defend the suit.

"We are just going to ride it out until the end," he said. "It's really unfortunate. We felt like we had some kind of input on the series, but the contract was written in a way that the only way we could (have input) was to end it, not thinking the operator would actually follow through on ending it on pretty simple, negotiable terms, very mild conditions — the main one being just bring the music down a few decibels with better music."

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